Building construction having three-hinged arched lattice girders

ABSTRACT

In a building comprising a bearing construction of a number of arched lattice girders interconnected by stays and a roof covering comprising interconnected plates of a plastics material, said plates comprising arched edge portions, the arched edge portion of one plate being snap-locked to that of the adjacent plate so as to partially overlap one another and the overlapping arched edge portions being snaplocked to a flange on the outer side of the arched lattice girders, the heads and the feet of the arched lattice girders being interconnected by zigzag shaped struts and the stays being connected to the arched lattice girders by connecting means which are firmly attached to the feet of the girders and are releasably attached to the heads thereof.

United States Patent [191 Pedersen Dec. 9, 1975 [75] Inventor: KristenHald Pedersen, Hvidovre,

Denmark [73] Assignee: Aktieselskabet Jens Villadsens Fabriker, Herlev,Denmark [22] Filed: Feb. 1, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 438,535

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 2, 1973 Denmark 566/73 [52]US. Cl. 52/86; 52/643; 52/650 [51] Int. C1. E04B 1/32 [58] Field ofSearch 52/86, 638, 650, 643, 687, 52/689, 690

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,567,211 12/1925 Tubbs52/650 X 2,252,533 8/1941 Tench 52/650 2,612,854 10/1952 Fuge 52/643 X2,735,383 2/1956 Gerbracht 52/643 X 3,062,341 11/1962 Klaus 52/650 X3,341,990 9/1967 Mouton 52/86 Primary ExaminerJ. Karl Bell Attorney,Agent, or FirmWatson, Cole, Grindle & Watson [57] ABSTRACT In a buildingcomprising a bearing construction of a number of arched lattice girdersinterconnected by stays and a roof covering comprising interconnectedplates of a plastics material, said plates comprising arched edgeportions, the arched edge portion of one plate being snap-locked to thatof the adjacent plate so as to partially overlap one another and theoverlapping arched edge portions being snaplocked to a flange on theouter side of the arched lattice girders, the heads and the feet of thearched lattice girders being interconnected by zigzag shaped struts andthe stays being connected to the arched lattice girders by connectingmeans which are firmly attached to the feet of the girders and arereleasably attached to the heads thereof.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures Sheet 1 of 3 US. Patent Dec. 9 1975 US.Patent Dec. 9 1975 Sheet 2 of3 3,924,368

U.S. Patent Dec. 9 1975 Sheet 3 of3 3,924,368

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION HAVING TI-IREE-IIINGED ARCHED LATTICE GIRDERSBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a buildingcomprising a bearing construction consisting of a number of parallel3-hinged arched lattice girders which are interconnected by stays, eacharched lattice girder comprising at its outer side a flange of acircular cross-sectional shape, and a roof covering comprising plateelements of a plastics material, said plate elements being mountedparallel to one another and to the flanges at the outer sides of thearched lattice girders, each plate element comprising at itslongitudinal edges arched edge portions having a periphery extendingover at least 180, the arched edge portion of one plate elementpartially overlapping the arched edge portion of an adjacent element, soas to interconnect said plate elements, the flanges at the outer sidesof 'the arched lattice girders being mounted within said overlappingarched edge portions of two adjacent plate elements so as to attach theroof covering to said girders.

In a prior art building of the above mentioned type each arched latticegirder consists of two parallel metal rods of circular cross-sectionalshape, said metal rods being interconnected by rectangular plates whichat their ends are welded to said metal rods. The rectangular plates alsocomprise holes serving to attach stays to said arched lattice girders.

These arched lattice girders suffer from the drawback that they arestatically indeterminate and as a result thereof larger buildingscomprising such arched lattice girders cannot be officially approved.

Furthermore, such buildings suffer from the drawback that the mountingof the stays presents difficulties. Thus, the arched lattice girdershave to be raised to an upright position and only then the stays can beinserted in the holes between the two parallel metal rods and attachedto said plates.

The object of the invention is to provide a construction comprisingstatically determinate arched lattice girders to which the stays can beeasily attached.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The building of the invention is characterizedin that the head and foot of each arched lattice girder areinterconnected by zigzag shaped struts and that the stays are connectedto the arched lattice girders by stay-connecting means which are firmlyattached to the feet of the girders and are releasably attached to theheads of the girders.

When using the above defined arched lattice girders, a staticallydeterminate construction is obtained and by using the above mentionedstay-connecting means, the construction becomes spatially stable and thestays are easy to mount. The stable construction obtained is due to thefact that the stays through the stay connection means are firmlyattached to the feet of the arched lattice girders and the easy mountingof said stays is due to the fact that the stay-connecting means arereleasably attached to the heads of the girders. When mounting thestays, they are inserted in the openings of the arched lattice girderswhich are to be connected and subsequently those parts of thestay-connecting means which are releasably attached to the heads areinserted. Finally, the stay-connecting means are firmly attached to thefeet of the girders.

In a preferred embodiment of the building of the invention each.stay-connecting means consists of two angular plates of which one iswelded to the outer side of thefoot of the arched lattice girder and thesecond angular plate is releasably connected to the head of said girder,the adjacent ends of the two angular plates being bolted together aroundthe stay.

A building of this type presents the advantage that it allow the use ofarched lattice girders in which both the head and the foot consist of aflange having a circular cross-sectional shape. Furthermore, thisconstruction makes it possible to provide a covering consisting of plateelements at both the exterior side and the interior side of theconstruction of arched lattice girders and stays.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention that part of theangular plate which is releasably connected to the head of the archedlattice girder is'longitudinally slit and the flanges thus obtained arebended in opposite directions. Such angular plates are particularly easyto mount because it is possible to insert the slit angular plates in amanner so that the flanges are located on opposite sides of the zigzagshaped struts at the places at which the struts are connected to thehead of the arched lattice girder. Subsequently, the stay can beinserted between the two angular plates and the plates can be boltedtogether around the stay. When bolting the angular plates togetheraround the stay, narrow clearances may be formed between the flanges andthe struts but in practice this has been found acceptable because theend of the angular plates which is releasably attachedto the head of thearched lattice girder primarily has the function of preventing adeflection of the column formed by the head of the arched lattice girderunder loading and because the deflection forces under a small deflectionare relatively small. Thus, there is no need for preventing a smalldeflection of the head of the arched lattice girder provided it isensured that said deflection is maintained within predetermined limits.

Problems may arise in the case when the building has to carry a veryheavy load for example a top of wet snow unless special measures aretaken to prevent a deflection of the foot of the arched lattice girder.However, a deflection of the foot of the arched lattice girder ispossible only if it is accompanied by a torsion of the head. Byproviding stays which are firmly connected to the feet of two adjacentarched lattice girders and when the stay-connecting means are releasablyattached to the heads of the girders, there is created a greatresistance against initial torsion of the head and consequently anincreased resistance against deflection of the foot. The building of theinvention reduces or eliminates the need for the provision of fixedpoints, for example in the form of gables, wire arrangements or similarin order to counteract a deflection of the feet of the girders in caseof heavy loadings.

Loading tests have shown that two arched lattice girders having a lengthof 8 meters, a spacing of 1.20 meters and externally covered by plateelements but without stays can resist a maximum load at the top of about210 kg before deflection phenomena occur. By providing three stayswithin each fourth of the arched girder and by attaching these stays bymeans of the above mentioned stay-connecting means, the loading could beincreased to about 850 kg before deflection phenomena occurred.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows an arched lattice girderhaving stayconnecting means for use in a building according to theinvention,

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view along the line II in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows part of an arched lattice girder used in a buildingaccording to the invention, and

FIG. 4 shows a portion of a building incorporating the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The arched lattice girder shownin FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a head 1 consisting of a metal rod havingcircular cross-sectional shape and a foot 2 which also consists of ametal rod having a circular cross-sectional area.

The head and the foot of said arched lattice girder are connected bymeans of a zigzag shaped strut 3 which is welded to the head at 4 and tothe foot at 5.

An angular plate 6 is welded to the outer side of the foot 2. The plate6 and a further angular plate 8 is bolted to a stay 9 by means of bolts7. The outermost end of the angular plate 8 is longitudinally slit so asto form three flanges 10, two of said flanges being located at one sideand the remaining flange at the other side of the strut 3.

FIG. 3 shows part of a 3-hinged arched lattice girder in a buildingaccording to the invention. As will appear from FIG. 3, two stays whichare also connected to adjacent girders are connected to the part of thearched lattice girder shown.

FIG. 4 shows a portion of a building construction incorporating theinvention. Such a building comprises a plurality of parallel 3-hingedarched lattice girders supporting a roof covering comprising parallelplate elements 11 interlocked together and mounted to head rods 1. Forexample, a curved or arched edge portion of one plate partially overlapsa curved or arched portion of an adjacent plate, or partially overlaps ahead rod 1.

I claim:

1. A building comprising a bearing construction consisting of a numberof parallel 3-hinged arched lattice girders which are interconnected bystays, each arched lattice girder comprising at its outer side a flangeof a circular cross-sectional shape, and a roof covering comprisingplate elements of a plastics material, said plate elements being mountedparallel to one another and to the flanges at the outer sides of saidarched lattice girders, each plate element comprising at itslongitudinal edges arched edge portions having a periphery extendingover at least the arched edge portions of one plate element partiallyoverlapping the arched edge portion of an adjacent plate element so asto interconnect said plates, the flanges at the outer sides of thearched lattice girders being mounted within said overlapping arched edgeportions of two adjacent plate elements so as to attach the roofcovering to said girders, characterized in that the head and foot ofeach arched lattice girder are interconnected by zigzag shaped strutsand that the stays are connected to the arched lattice girders bystay-connecting means which are firmly attached to the feet of thegirders and are releasably attached to the heads of the girders.

2. A building according to claim 1, characterized in that eachstay-connecting means consists of two angular plates, one angular platebeing welded to the inner side of the foot of the girder and the secondangular plate being releasably connected to its head, the adjacent endsof the two angular plates being bolted to the stay.

3. A building according to claim 2, characterized in that the part ofthe angular plate which is releasably attached to the head of the archedlattice girder is longitudinally slit and that the flanges thus obtainedare bended in opposite directions.

1. A building comprising a bearing construction consisting of a numberof parallel 3-hinged arched lattice girders which are interconnected bystays, each arched lattice girder comprising at its outer side a flangeof a circular cross-sectional shape, and a roof covering comprisingplate elements of a plastics material, said plate elements being mountedparallel to one another and to the flanges at the outer sides of saidarched lattice girders, each plate element comprising at itslongitudinal edges arched edge portions having a periphery extendingover at least 180*, the arched edge portions of one plate elementpartially overlapping the arched edge portion of an adjacent plateelement so as to interconnect said plates, the flanges at the outersides of the arched lattice girders being mounted within saidoverlapping arched edge portions of two adjacent plate elements so as toattach the roof covering to said girders, characterized in that the headand foot of each arched lattice girder are interconnected by zigzagshaped struts and that the stays are connected to the arched latticegirders by stay-connecting means which are firmly attached to the feetof the girders and are releasably attached to the heads of the girders.2. A building according to claim 1, characterized in that eachstay-connecting means consists of two angular plates, one angular platebeing welded to the inner side of the foot of the girder and the secondangular plate being releasably connected to its head, the adjacent endsof the two angular plates being bolted to the stay.
 3. A buildingaccording to claim 2, characterized in that the part of the angularplate which is releasably attached to the head of the arched latticegirder is longitudinally slit and that the flanges thus obtained arebended in opposite directions.